The present application relates to photoresist compositions and methods of using the same.
Optical photolithography is a technique typically employed in the semiconductor industry for patterning one or more material layers. Many resolution enhancement technology (RET) methods have also contributed to the extension of optical photolithography to print very low k1 images. The value of k1 can be found using the optical projection lithography resolution equation W=k1λ/NA, where W is the minimum printable feature size, λ is the exposure wavelength (e.g. 193 nm, 157 nm), NA is the numerical aperture of the lithography system and k1 is a lithographic constant of the system. Double exposure (DE) has emerged as a method to reduce k1 in the fabrication of integrated circuit chips. Several double exposure schemes have been developed including double dipole lithography (DDL) and double exposure double etch (DE2). However, DDL can only print images within diffraction limit, while DE2 is a complex and expensive process. Accordingly, there exists a need to overcome the deficiencies and limitations described hereinabove.